Since Griffin’s classic research (1985) on gendered physical education and its impact, physical educators have been searching for approaches that can equally motivate boys and girls in learning physical education. Literature has suggested that although boys and girls may have different personal interests, they all can be motivated to participate in learning activities that are situationally interesting. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which personal interest, situational interest, and learning outcomes were accounted for by gender in a 4-week dance unit. Randomly selected middle school students (19 boys and 40 girls) were asked to rate their personal interest in dance along with other 14 activities on a 7-point Liker-type scale. In each of the three randomly selected lessons, the participants assessed situational interest of the learning tasks using the Situational Interest Scale (SIS). Each student’s total steps (Steps) in each lesson were recorded using Yamax Digiwalker as physical activity level. Concurrent validity of the Steps was established by correlating Steps with the heart rate data simultaneously collected in a smaller sample of students. The correlation coefficients ranged from .65 to .92. Achievement was assessed using teachers’ summative evaluation on skill tests and written exams. A MANOVA model was used to analyze boys’ and girls’ personal interest, responses to SIS, Steps, and Achievement. The results showed that girls had a higher (F=10.20, p< .01) personal interest (M=3.38, SD=1.74) than boys (M=1.89, SD=1.46). Both the boys (M=14.02, SD=1.45) and girls (M=14.90, SD=2.50) considered the lessons situationally interesting (F=1.60, p=.21). The boys were taking more steps (M=1925, SD=337) during each lesson than the girls (M=1826, SD=352; F=5.10, p=.02). The girls performed better than boys in achievement tests and exams (F=5.54, p=.02). The results showed that regardless of their personal interest, both boys and girls equally valued high situational interest. Boys’ being more active may indicate that the effect of gendered personal interest diminished while learning tasks possessed high situational interest. The achievement data may imply that although the girls were less physically active in class, their learning might have higher quality than the boys as a result of higher personal interest in dance. The significance of the study is that situational interest was found to be a motivator for all students in the learning process. Personal interest, although gendered, is necessary to motivate students to engage in quality learning for knowledge and skill acquisition.Keyword(s): gender issues, middle school issues, physical activity